I'm Just Sayin'

              Wonder if there's a coin in the mouth of that fish?

                                          “I’m Just Sayin’”

                                                                 by Alan P. Scaglione

Sometimes, it just seems like…everyone you know…

Is going through something.

I have a dear friend who has spent this past week on a ventilator.

Tell me that’s not a bad week?

And I have another whose wife just lost her job, and she is pregnant.

Then there’s the guy who is like a son to me…

Doing his very best to be the best husband he can be…

Working to just make ends meet, just bring in food on the table…

Just provide the essentials for his son and daughter…

And yet, he’s losing everything.

He is being evicted-- his family won’t or can’t help financially—he asked…

And he is beating himself up wondering …

“Why is this happening to me? What did I do to deserve this? Is God listening?”

Haven’t we all asked that question, at least once or twice in our lives?

My heart just broke as I heard him…beating his head against the proverbial wall.

Questioning himself, questioning God…

Mostly, just disappointed…feeling like he was not doing his job as a husband and father.

I just felt the Lord well up inside of me…

And I started to remind him of a story I had long forgotten.

Remember the fish and the coin?

Yeh…the fish and the coin?

The disciples needed money to pay taxes…and they didn’t have a dime!

The Lord provided…

Coins in the mouth of a fish…

To pay the taxes!!

Pretty unconventional!

I’ve done some fishing…okay, so I have watched a lot of people fish…

Never had any of them find any coins in any fish they cleaned. Never!!

You can find the story in Matthew 17: 27… Christ was talking to Peter:

“Notwithstanding, lest we should offend them, go thou to the sea, and cast an hook, and take up the fish that first cometh up;

 and when thou hast opened his mouth, thou shalt find a piece of money: that take, and give unto them for me and thee.”

I can see the Lord using some “out of the box” thinking here.

1-Don’t look for the answer in the typical place.

2-Don’t expect the answer in the usual way.

3-Don’t assume that HE won’t use something so familiar to you--in a new way!

That’s the words I spoke to my “son”—God has not forsaken you!

I reminded him of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego!!

You remember them?

They said….”We are not careful to answer you oh King..

If God chooses NOT to spare us…

Though He slay us, we will serve HIM!”

I also reminded him…

“You think you’re having a bad day?”

“There’s no Cross strapped to your back—that’s a BAD DAY!”

He got really quiet…I was concerned that he may feel that I was scolding him.

I wasn’t – but sometimes, we have to be reminded—we have not been forsaken.

Even when it feels that way!

He finally spoke…

Said he was really getting two things out of what I had said.

1 – Don’t look for conventional means for God to meet his needs

2 – Take the responsibility to think outside the box to see if he can help himself!

WOW! Sometimes our kids DO listen!

I reminded him of times when God showed up just in the nick of time!

I have learned…He’s an OnTime God…oh Yes HE is!

But…He misses a whole lot of opportunities to be early!

As we ended our call…I prayed with him and reminded him one thing.

“No matter how bad it may seem right now…

You have not spent your week on a ventilator!”

Perspective—it does a body good!

I’m thinkin’…this is a lesson we all need to learn!

Until Next Time

I’m Just Sayin’…

Brother “A”

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